Urgent-care clinics a shot in the arm for retail landlords

Urgent-care facilities have been cropping up across in the city in spaces long occupied by retailers.

The clinics, which serve as an alternative to a doctor’s office or emergency room, are making up for the diminishing presence of other commercial sectors. The owner of 345-347 Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn plans to replace five retail tenants with a single 3,500-square-foot office for CityMD.

CityMD, the biggest urgent-care chain, has undergone a major expansion so far this year. Centers have opened in Boerum Hill, Bay Ridge and Astoria. The chain also inked a lease for 7,200 square feet at Riverdale Center in the Bronx.

“I believe strongly that the density level and the growth in income level really attracted them,” Joe Farkas of Metropolitan Realty Associates told the Wall Street Journal. “The combination of medical use with retail these days is very prominent.”

Most retail landlords are happy to sign the clinics, while others feel it presents a more upscale image. [WSJ] — Mark Maurer

Most medical offices in the Outer Boroughs are on the ground floor anyway. It makes more sense and is more inviting than getting lost in the hallways of a medical building looking for the one you want out of many others offering the same service.

Of all the industries, you would think that they would be the most willing to pay for location since certain neighborhoods are known for having more cash paying patients than others.

I think dentists should always be on the ground floor.

a clean sidewalk is neighborly

Also, when the elderly SPONY was guarding against black ice multiple times a day during the polar vortexes, she was repeatedly thanked everyday by the local elderly. That kind of goodwill can translate into loyal customers and as a retailer, you end up having a face in the community that you couldn’t have if you just had an office upstairs with a bunch of other practitioners. Merchants become part of their community because only one store can be at that building number but when you have an office upstairs, you are just one of many numbers on many floors. It’s different.